Tax Week

This is always an exciting week for me.  For some reason I have all my stuff in Quickbooks and really make an effort to have everyone the things they need and we always end up filing extensions and I'm getting calls 12 hours before the deadline with a panic of "we need this for your tax return."  It always manages to make it in on time but man is it an ordeal.  This was an especially exciting year for taxes.  I can't believe what I pay and seeing what they go for makes me a little ill.  But we live in a great place, right?  I'm telling Anne to enjoy what we've got before the IRS comes and has a yard sale of all our things for their benefit.  Do you think the IRS reads these blogs?  I hope not.  Man...I'm happy to get this week behind me and on to more positive things.

Earlier this week Tatum was running around outside before dinner.  Anne and I were just resting on the lounge chairs watching her.  She decided to put on Anne's shoes and scoot around on her tricycle.  Here's a picture and a little video link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7I2Nv2jMOw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2dU1s5SLoc

Tinsley is starting to really stay awake and stare at me.  She looks at me with these piercing eyes and you can tell she's ready to take on the world.  Everyone comments that she seems to be the most alert baby they've seen.  That's the smart stuff she gets from her Mama, that's not from me. Nobody has ever confused me for being alert!  I saw her give 3 genuine smiles this week.  She was lookign at me and i'd rub her chest and she'd let out a shy little smile.  I forgot how prescious those moments are.  

The week was a bit of a blur...very busy at work and Tatum maintained a full week of Monday Swimming, Tuesday School, Wed Ballet (BEE-LAY), Thursday School, Friday Swimming, Saturday a birthday party and Saturday night with PawPaw and Kay.  I don't know how the girl keeps up with her calendar!  

Wed. night was her first halloween event.  I was really sad to miss it...I somehow didn't get everything on MY calendar and was sitting at an open house while Tatum was a bunny rabbit at her school's Halloween Night.  I hated missing it but Anne took some fun pictures for me.  I think Anne said we have 6 Halloween events and Tatum has a different costume for each one....so I'm sure you'll get your fill of costume pictures over the next 2 weeks.

Saturday we had a blast when we all went to a Ranch Party for one of Tatum's Gymboree girlfriends' birthday.  We went on a hayride and pointed out turkeys, deer, axis, birds...tons of fun animals.  Because is was a ranch party Tatum got to wear her cowgirl boots for the first time.  She was so excited.  She pretty much hasn't taken them off since.  She looks like a little cowgirl in her jeans and shirt and steel toed pink boots.  What a cutie...

I think the highlight of Tatum's day was rolling and jumping in the leaves.  They has raked over a big pile of huge sycamore leaves and all the kids were diving and jumping and covering each other up with them.  It was so fun to watch them.  I probably took 100 pictures of her in there playing.  These were my favorite.  

Saturday night Tatum got to stay at Paw Paw's house!  This was the first time she'd stayed over there and she'd been talking about it all week long.  Paw Paw bought her a new big swing, all kind of baby necessities/shampoo/soaps and was ready for her!  When I was leaving her for the night she kind of waved and didn't really care that I was leaving...she was totally in to her surroundings and I was the last thing on her mind.  I felt so good that she was so comfortable.  I got a great voice mail from my Dad the next morning saying that Tatum was unbelievable.  He couldn't believe how much she ate, how fun she was the entire time, how easy her bath and bedtime was...it was cool to hear the excitement in his voice.  Kay was there too and we felt good that someone with some recent experience was close by.  Tatum really loves being around Paw Paw and Kay and they are great to her.  I was scared Dad was going to keep her up until midnight eating cookies and ice cream but he swears she was in bed by 8pm.  They cooked waffles Sunday morning and Tatum renamed it "Paw Paw's toast."  Sweet.  

This afternoon I met Cole, Cross and Netty (Mom) at the Pumpkin Patch to get some pics of Cross.  We were there for probably an hour just watching the kinds run around and play.  Cross took his first steps this week!  I was so excited for him.  I got to see him take 2 steps today and I'm sure many more will soon follow.  Here's a couple of pics from this week's pumpkin patch trip...

Lulu was excited about the Horns victory this week over Missouri. She wore her jersey to cheer them on...

Sorry not too much to write tonight...it was a great week for all of us and yet again I can't remember half of the stuff we did.  

Oh crud...I forgot...this weekend was our 5 year wedding anniversary!  I didn't' for the day and I was actually well prepared, but I almost forgot to mention that on here!  We had a great dinner at Trio while Dad was watching Tatum and Mom was watching Tinsley. It was a really nice night.  My favorite thing we did was to make a list of the "best moments" since we've known each other.  It was neat to relive them and smile and laugh at things we've done.  Sometimes you run out of things to talk about at dinner and conversation can quickly turn to things that are a little too heavy for a celebratory night....so the "looking back" thing was really fun.  Yes, my idea, thank you.  The romantic in me I suppose.

Punkin' Patch

Okay...I'm back on track with my once a week entry. This was a slow week so I feel like I'm getting caught up. I'm not sure I like it slow...seems like business is drying up a bit with all the market craze. I'm anxious to get through the election and get people feeling a little more stable. I'll refrain from telling you who you need to vote for but I just want to get through this election and get SOMEONE in office...in real estate it seems like once the elections are over it's back to business.


I'm here to write about my family...not my work. Sorry. I walked in one day this week and Anne was holding Tinsley and breast feeding while with her other hand she was coloring with Tatum. In the background dinner was cooking on the stove. I told Anne she was now a bonafide mom! It looked like a lot of work.


Tinsley is growing leaps and bounds. She weighted in over 8 lbs and her little cheeks are filling out more each week. She's still quiet as a mouse, wakes up only 2x a night and is being great on our sleep schedules. Tatum is at the coolest age I've experienced yet (everyone tells me every age gets better and better...but I don't know how it can get more fun that this). She is absorbing everything around her and repeating words like crazy. She's really learning to put together words and little sentences. Today I told Tatum "I love you" and she looked up at me and said "I wuv you...too." I swear I almost started crying right there. SO cool.


We're really getting in a good system with feeding the girls and getting Tatum in bed. Tatum still loves bath time and now really wants to "rain Daddy"...which means get in my shower with me. I once threw her in with me so I could shower her off faster. It worked but now every time she comes in my bathroom and I'm in the shower she wants to get in with me. I'm not sure if this is appropriate or not but I'm going to tell it because it's funny. Tatum discovered her "parts" recently and Anne has taught her the correct word for it. So now when you're changing her, she'll point and say "Tay Tay's 'nina'". Well...when we were in the shower she pointed up to me and said "Daddy's nina" I got a kick out of that and felt a little awkward telling her the proper words. While tempted to teach her some funny slang, I thought my wife's sense of humor would not appreciate it so I stuck to the classics. After telling her the right name and not really wanting to go in to too much detail and word repetition I just thought we'd slide on by that one. About a minute later she pointed up again and scrunched up her face in a grossed out little look at said "Daddy's nina......ewwww." Good girl. Boys parts are ewwww. Stay away. We're sticking with that philosophy until she's 25.


Let's see...what else? This week was the TX/OU game and I went up for my annual trip. I stayed with our friends the Golden's and at their house they had the Katz' and the Chasen's and their kids. It was so fun to watch all 3 kids run around and interact. I love watching our friends with kids and seeing all of us learning and enjoying such a new part or our lives. The game was GREAT and we had seats 3 rows off the field. (As I'm typing this I just remembered that I forgot to pay you for the tickets Matt! Check's in the mail...) It's always a super long weekend, and I always get fried in the sun at the game. I really missed Annie and the girls so I decided to go home Saturday night after the game and enjoy a full day Sunday with the family.





On Sunday we went to the Pumpkin Patch at Tarrytown Methodist Church for our photos. It's getting challenging to get a picture of everyone happy and posing...Tatum seems to be runnign all over the place and when you try and corral her it just sends her in to a worse mood...but we did get a few keepers. I bought Anne a "big girl" camera so she can get some really good shots. This was her first picture she took with the camera and look at it! I'm excited to see how she does and I'll enjoy teaching her how to use it. Though, she doesn't seem to like my teaching lessons (see Tennis story) but we'll se how this goes.





We ended the weekend with an awesome dinner at Bistro 88 tonight. The food there was great. I need to remember that place next time we can't think of a place to go. We went with our young, single friends and brought both our girls. I love how excited they always are to play with them and laugh at the things the kids do. Wether it's Tatum chewing her food and then spitting it out and handing it to Anne or Tinsley breast feeding at the table and ripping toots and pooping...they find amusement in all of it. They really are cool to not shun us from hanging out with them and being so great with our girls.


Tatum continues to love the moon. Tonight we got home late (8:30) and when we walked in the house from the garage we went outside to point at the moon. She looks up and says "look Daddy, moon!" She then says "night night Moon", blows a kiss and waves to it. It's priceless. I always tell her "that's Tatum and Daddy's moon."


Well...only 17 more shopping days until my birthday. For those of you that don't have it on your calendar, it's October 29. The Saturday after (November 1) is the big Halloween Party we go to every year and we'll probably do a big dinner somewhere with all my friends. Put it on your calendar and stay tuned for what we come up with.


Oh yea...this week's pictures!!....

Anne took this. Tinsley surrounded by her color. What a cutie!

Tinsley in a milk coma after dinner

Tinsley's first night out on the town . Anne got herself all dolled up. MILFY!

Save the jokes you immature jerks. Fresh out of the bath...actually, this was during the bath.

Just out of the bath. "Wide eyed and bushy tailed" as my parent's would say.

Anne and Tinsley at the Pumpkin Patch

It looks like Tatum's pushing Tinsley down but she was giving her a really sweet pat on the head. She's always loving on her little sister.

The Happy Family.